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Technology of the Early Terran Union
Computers, Energy Production, Robotics, and the Stars ' Alexander Maddox the founder and CEO of Maddox Technologies (MadTek) made a burst of discoveries beginning around his mid twenties that led to faster networks, and communications as well as making them cheaper. So much so that smart phones could be purchased at the corner fueling station and that was only the beginning. From there he created laptop computers fast and powerful enough to rival any super computer on the planet and higher definition graphics than anyone had seen to date. Along with the laptops came tablet computers that were more powerful than the fastest desktop. Once everyone in the world started talking to each other on his phones and computers the CEO of MadTek then turned his hand to energy. Ignoring solar, wind and other forms of a number “Green” energies of the time and instead focused on two forms a self-sustaining fusion. Once started with a little bit of water the reactor cells would produce energy for up to a decade or two before the core wears out depending on power consumption and then can be replaced for a relatively low cost. He even created two kinds of this self sustaining fusion (Cold and Hot Fusion). Cold fusion which is used planet side in homes for rechargeable power cells or powering homes, cars, electronics, pretty much everything a person might use or need. Cold fusion was deemed best for housing because an over load just caused a short in the private reactor forcing the reactor core to stop working and could be replaced. Hot Fusion is used in starships, stations, military bases and most concentrated research centers because it provides far more power than cold fusion. In fact its Hot fusion is the only kind of power source that can produce the energy required to spin up FTL drive allowing for interstellar travel or generate the Afterburn effect in star fighters. Hot Fusion is not as safe as Cold Fusion and can cause meltdowns if the energy output is not monitored and regulated at all times. It is by and large considered safe but it IS a nuclear reaction and if its output exceeds usual parameters it can cause a meltdown that while not dangerous to people outside the "blast zone" will incinerate everything for 20 miles. Mr. Maddox (Later Doctor having gained multiple PhDs) at one point experimented with something he called a Zero Point Energy Core that would have replaced all types of nuclear energy but was never able to create anything than one reactor the size of a small city the energy of which was turned towards planetary defense. ('Special Note; Numerous Aliens Governments or Human colonies not wishing to be part of the Terran Union frequently use an antimatter reactor to generate the vast amounts of power required for their people or interstellar travel. The Antimatter reaction however is considerably more dangerous and is more of a fission reaction although it can easily produce more energy than Hot Fusion with less material but not as much as the Zero Point Energy Core serving as the power supply for the Earth Defense Protocols. Antimatter Faster Than Light Drives do not use Jump Technology involving Tachyons allowing for what is essentially one way localized wormholes the exact same size and shape of the ship for up to 100 light years. Antimatter instead is used to create a shell around the craft that allows the ships mass to essentially be “shunted” into subspace and move through space time at multiple times light speed also known as “warp” speeds.) After that Alexander moved on to Basic AI (Artificial Intelligence) but given the limitations of the time he was not able to advance as far on that point as he'd liked. The same went for his attempt at robotics although by the end of his life most homes owned a maintenance and upkeep "droid". The biggest achievement he was able to set in motion and see towards the end of his life was the Faster Than Light (FTL) Drive allowing for travel outside of the solar system. By 2140 C.E. the Terran Union had colonies on the Moon (Luna City and Luna Base Alpha and Bravo Colony had been settled via sublight colony ship of Maddox design in 2075 C.E.), Mars (Maddox City, Ares Base and Landing small colony that was the original settlement on Mars), the orbital stations of Io Base and Europa Station, and the Pluto research colony all accessible with the Hot Fusion sublight engines allowing the various Earth space craft of the time to travel at around .6 and .7 of light speed (light speed is 1.0 so Earth craft of the time could go 60-70% of light speed any individuals traveling further than Mars often had to be put in stasis in order to prevent the tedium of years of space travel, however to alleviate the stress over population was putting on Earth roughly 1000 colony ships hold about 100,000 colonists not including the ships crew each although the ships themselves could be broken down once planet side and turned into housing and storage structures until new resources on the planet could be refined to create more buildings and were sent out towards 250 viable planets colony ships would make planet fall roughly 500 miles apart so they could help each other if needed but not be a drain on each others resources if both colonies started having some troubles crews and colonists placed in stasis once they left the solar system so they wouldn't age and die before arriving at their new home only moving at 55-65% of light speed. Many of these colony ships did not arrive at their new homes until well after the creation of the FTL drive (some still haven't arrived at all) and were quite surprised once they connected to the Infonet upon waking up from stasis to find how far humanity had spread while they slept.) but with the advent of his FTL Drives instantaneous travel from outside Earth orbit to any planet in the solar system and then with accurate coordinates the first Jump from Pluto to the Alpha Centari system was made. On his 100th Birthday Alexander Maddox was among the first humans to arrive in the Alpha Centari system and, witness from a first person perspective, Alpha Centari IV the first habitable planet that would allow humanity to colonize outside its solar system. Alexander Kent Maddox would die less than 4 months later during the fall of 2142 C.E. In his will he allowed virtually all of his creations to become Open Source knowledge for man kind and the Terran Union to profit from and improve upon. Medicine & Medical Technology of the Early Terran Union Dr. Lieandra Talbot Maddox was the brilliant mind behind a number of medical advances even before her association and then later marriage to Alexander Maddox. A medical prodigy in her own right Lieandra Morgan Talbot graduated with medical degree from Johns Hopkins at 21 and before receiving her first research grant, and while maintaining a small pediatrics practice invented two new forms of biotech limb replacements that would graft onto a human body. One was literally a calcium bone replacement and the other a sort of vat grown muscle based on the recipients DNA. After that while she still volunteered at a pediatric free clinic her time was devoted to research. While her research was indeed able to help pioneer techniques to aid amputees or those suffering illnesses in third world nations it wasn't until a few years after her marriage to Alexander Maddox that her work really exploded. One of the first things she helped create was with her husband. It was a cybernetic limb replacement. At this time they had been on the market for years but they had a fairly low success rate for integration and even when they did patients still had phantom limb pains more than 70% of the time. The new limb (assuming the bone and muscle graft she invented years before wasn't a viable option) worked for 99% of all patients and phantom limb pain was removed due to the new type of neural connection made to the brain in 99.99% of all patients. Her second project was also a collaboration with her husband in that it was a cybernetic ocular replacement that resembled a real eye so much that it was actually very difficult to tell it was not a real eye where as previous models lacked something that one could easily tell it was cybernetic. Her third project was the beginning of the vat grown organ replacements starting with hearts. An example of a persons DNA was taken and new organs grown or “cloned” straight from the original owner with no need of another donor. This way the organ wouldn't be rejected and the genes on the organ as it grew could be screened and repaired of any defects before implantation. By the time she was in her mid 50s she had found a way to completely cure any cancer as long as it was caught in its early stages (and if so one never got a relapse or recurrence etc), she had also found the cure for HIV as long as the virus hadn't evolved into full blown AIDS it was not just treatable but curable, along with a host of other things which lead to a massive explosion of new medical testing equipment and making others that had been enormous taking up whole rooms hand held.